Kroger to open first Marketplace Store in Little Rock, Ark.

By Antoinette Alexander

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Kroger has announced that it will be opening its first Marketplace Store in Little Rock, Ark., on Aug. 28, which will feature a wide assortment of housewares, toys, school and office supplies, baby items, furniture, bed and bath merchandise, home decor and a Fred Meyer Jewelry Store.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the 123,000-sq.-ft. store last year when Kroger Delta Division president Mark Prestidge announced Kroger’s plans to invest approximately $125 million in a multiyear effort to remodel, expand and build new stores in the state, creating hundreds of jobs.

Kroger currently operates 35 stores throughout Arkansas and employs 3,800 people in the state.

Capital plans have included a remodel and fuel center in West Memphis, Ark., and expansions and remodels at the greater Little Rock stores in Pulaski Heights, Rodney Parham and Markham locations. In addition, Kroger locations in Conway, Russellville and Benton, Ark., were each remodeled with the latest offerings to enhance the customer shopping experience. A new location in Maumelle, Ark., opened in 2008.

Prestidge noted that the opening of the Beechwood location will happen in late October, and capital investments throughout the state will continue next year as plans are under way for future Marketplace formats in the state. Kroger's Delta Division, based in Memphis, Tenn., currently operates 111 stores and 60 fuel centers in five states under the Kroger banner in Memphis and west Tennessee; Arkansas; Mississippi; southern Missouri; and southwest Kentucky.